Thursday, September 20, 2007

Episcopal Bishops in Key Meeting on Gays

I have been following the fight within the Anglican Communion for some time now and I hope that the US Episcopal Church will decide that it is better to stand alone and be right than remain in communion with others who distort Christ's message and turn it into a message of exclusion. Here are highlights(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091901330.html?hpid=sec-religion) on a meeting that could have significant impact on gay Episcopalians and other gay Christians:
The Rev. Frank Wade, a veteran of the brawling theological debates in the Episcopal Church, said the denomination was once filled with people like him: "old white men." It was the church of the establishment, the spiritual home of more U.S. presidents than any other denomination. Now, the head of the church is a woman who says the Bible supports gay relationships. Many Episcopal priests believe that accepting Jesus isn't the only path to salvation. And V. Gene Robinson, who lives openly with his longtime male partner, is the bishop of New Hampshire.
Episcopalians are hardly alone among mainline Protestants in their liberal turn, but they have been tested like no others for their views. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S., and many Anglican leaders overseas are infuriated by Episcopal left-leaning beliefs.

Starting on Thursday in New Orleans, Episcopal bishops will take up the most direct demand yet that they reverse course: Anglican leaders want an unequivocal pledge that Episcopalians won't consecrate another gay bishop or approve official prayers for same-gender couples. If the church fails to do so by Sept. 30, their full membership in the Anglican Communion could be lost.
"I think the bishops are going to stand up and say, `Going backward is not one of our options,'" said Wade of the Washington diocese, who has led church legislative committees on liturgy and Anglican relations. "I don't think there's going to be a backing down."
The 2.2 million-member Episcopal Church comprises only a tiny part of the world's 77 million Anglicans. But the wealthy U.S. denomination covers about one-third of the communion's budget. Within the Episcopal Church, most parishioners either accept gay relationships or don't want to split up over homosexuality. However, a small minority of Episcopal traditionalists are fed up with church leaders.
I believe that history will judge harshly those parishes and diocese that leave the Church. Their intolerance will look akin to allegedly Christian denominations that supported slavery and later segregation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

After 2,000 years, you're still waiting for history to judge J-C-I harshly? What will it take to make the OBVIOUS obvious? A woman in a chasuble? If she wears the head-dress of a mitre? She in He drag? And you think GWB does not "get it?" What do YOU get that he does not? (Don't answer.) With Andrew Sullivan and Mike Rogers leading your way, which American Psycho is kind of irrelevant. Pam Spaulding ain't any better. Must be something in the water below the Mason-Dixon Line.